American Astronomer
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Past, present, future- it is all in the sky Galileo Galilei(1564-1642) Physicist Mathematician Astronomer Philosopher Galileo Galilei Galileo was also named „the father of modern observational astronomy” , „the father of modern physics” , „the father of science” and „the father of modern science” Stephen Hawking said about him that he was responsible for the birth of modern science Galileo has also worked in applied science and technology, improving compass construction techniques. Galileo improved the telescopes The discovery of the satellites of the planet Jupiter One day while Galileo is looking at the planet Venus, using a telescope, he noticed 3 fixed, almost invisible stars. After a period of study, he realized that the stars orbit the planet. After a while he noticed the 4th star that Galileo called the Medici Stars. Today the stars are called the Galilean Satellites The study of Saturn's rings Galileo Galilei was the first to notice Saturn's rings. Initially he was believed that the rings were two celestial bodies. Repeated studies gave the astronomer a headache. However, he failed to identify them exactly. The study about the moon After the discovery of the largest satellites of Jupiter, he observed a series of special elements about the moon. He discovers the phenomenon of libration. Then, he guesses that there are mountains and craters on the moon, aș a result of the shadows he sees. The „discover” of Neptun After observing the Milky Way, Galileo looks through the telescope and unknowingly observes the planet Neptune. Without knowing it, he discovered a new planet. The heliocentric theory Most of Galileo's astronomical theories confirmed the heliocentric theory that the Earth and other planets spin around the Sun. Unfortunately, even if the theory was true, it was supported by only a few scientists, as a result of pressure from the Catholic Church, which supported the geocentric theory that the Earth is the center of the Universe. Conclusion In conclusion we can say that Galileo Galilei was an enlightened mind, admired by many people, who made important discoveries for astronomy and for the world. Past, present, future- it is all in the sky Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727) General informations Isaac Newton was a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, and author who developed the concepts of modern physics, including the laws of motion and is known as one of the great minds of the 17th-century Scientific Revolution. Newton is considered to be one of the greatest scientists in history. He made important contributions to many fields of science. Unfortunately the famous story of Newton and the apple seem to be based more on fiction rather than fact. His discoveries and theories laid the foundation for much of the progress in science since his time. Newton was one of the inventors of the branch of mathematics called calculus. He also solved the mysteries of light and optics, formulated the three laws of motion, and derived from them the law of universal gravitation. Newton's laws of motion are the most fundamental natural laws of classical mechanics. Newton's influence in astronomy Newton was one of the first to make a reflecting telescope. However, his most profound contribution to science is the formulation of three Laws of Motion, described in Philosophiae ,,Naturalis Principia Mathematica" in 1687, which also lays the foundation for the principle of universal gravitation. In ,,Principia" he states, "There is a power of gravity pertaining to all bodies, proportional to the several quantities of matter which they contain." With this, Newton proposed that all objects in the Universe pulled on each other through gravity. It was the reason why planets move in orbits and why objects fall to the Earth. However, this new knowledge brought difficulties since if each object affected every other, the resulting calculations of their motion were extremely complex. Newton admitted to being unable to calculate the orbits of the planets in the Solar System other than in a general way, though his results were better than his predecessors. He thought that the planets would gradually pull each other from their orbits and that God would have to intervene to re-order them. Backstory of the apple incident Newton himself said that he was inspired to write the theory of gravity by watching the fall of an apple from a tree. It is claimed that passed into popular knowledge after being related by Catherine Barton, Newton's niece, to François-Marie Arouet better known as Voltaire wich in turn wrote in his essay on epic poetry"Sir Isaac Newton walking in his gardens, had the first thought of his system of gravitation, upon seeing an apple falling from a tree." Though it has been said that the apple story is a myth and that he never arrived at the theory of gravity, associates of Newton do in fact confirm the incident though without the part were the apple hits Newton's François-Marie Arouet head. After death fame Newton's fame started in the 18th century when the mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange also known as Giuseppe Luigi said that Newton was the greatest genius to have ever lived and quoted: ,,the most fortunate, for we cannot find more than once a system of the world to establish." After this, Newton was mentioned by poets,until 1816 when a tooth said to have belonged to Newton himself was sold for £730 to an aristocrat in London that put the tooth on a ring. Even Albert Einstein had a picture of Newton on his study wall, alongside photos of Michael Faraday,a scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism, and James Clerk Maxwell, a scientist that worked in the field of mathematical physics. Joseph-Louis Lagrange Past, present, future- It is all in the sky Johannes Kepler German astronomer Personal data • Johannes Kepler (December 27, 1571 - Weil der Stadt, Germany - November 15, 1630) was a German mathematician, astronomer, and naturalist who formulated and confirmed the laws of planetary motion (Kepler's Laws). The Law of Areas: A line that connects a planet to the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times. The Law of Periods: The Law of Orbits: All The square of the planets move in period of any planet is elliptical orbits, with proportional to the the sun at one focus. cube of the semimajor axis of its orbit. Kepler’s Laws Other achievements • He explained the passage of Mercury and Venus on the Sun's disk. • He explained the reddish light, which is seen during lunar eclipses. • He first issued the idea of a converging eyepiece for telescopes, put into practice by Christiaan Huygens. • He built an astronomical telescope (1611) Main works • Mysterium Cosmographicum, 1596 • Astronomia Nova, 1609 • Dioptrice, 1611 • Harmonices mundi, 1619 • De Cometis, 1619 • Tabulae rudolfinae, 1627 • Kepler also made many other contributions to science. He discovered a new star (a supernova); analyzed how the human eye works; he made improvements to the telescope, and made other contributions to the field of optics. He published accurate data on the position of stars and planets that were of immense value to navigators. The last years of life • His last important work, published during his lifetime, is Tabulae Rudolfinae ,which contains tables describing the movements of the planets. It will form the basis of any astronomical calculation for the next 200 years. In his memory, the University of Linz is called "Johannes-Kepler- Universität". Past, present, future- It is all in the sky John Couch Adams Astronomer John Couch Adam’s most famous achievemet His most famous achievement was predicting the existence and position of Neptune, using only mathematics. The calculations were made to explain discrepancies with Uranus's orbit and the laws of Kepler and Newton. At the same time, but unknown to each other, the same calculations were made by Urbain Le Verrier. Le Verrier would send his coordinates to Berlin Observatory astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle, who confirmed the existence of the planet on 23 September 1846, finding it within 1° of Le Verrier's predicted location (there was, and to some extent still is, some controversy over the apportionment of credit for the discovery; see Discovery of Neptune). Discovery of Neptune In 1821, Alexis Bouvard had published astronomical tables of the orbit of Uranus, making predictions of future positions based on Newton's laws of motion and gravitation. Subsequent observations revealed substantial deviations from the tables, leading Bouvard to hypothesise some perturbing body. Adams learnt of the irregularities while still an undergraduate and became convinced of the "perturbation" theory. Adams believed, in the face of anything that had been attempted before, that he could use the observed data on Uranus, and utilising nothing more than Newton's law of gravitation, deduce the mass, position and orbit of the perturbing body. On 3 July 1841, he noted his intention to work on the problem. Informations about Adams • Adams was Lowndean Professor in the University of Cambridge from 1859 until his death. He won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1866. In 1884, he attended the International Meridian Conference as a delegate for Britain. • A crater on the Moon is jointly named after him, Walter Sydney Adams and Charles Hitchcock Adams. Neptune's outermost known ring and the asteroid 1996 Adams are also named after him. The Adams Prize, presented by the University of Cambridge, commemorates his prediction of the position of Neptune. His personal library is held at Cambridge University Library. • After his final examinations in 1843, Adams was elected fellow of his college and spent the summer vacation in Cornwall calculating the first of six iterations.